Watch: Trump speaks at Grand Rapids campaign stop, 1st since assassination attempt
FOX 2 - Former President Donald Trump returned to Michigan on Saturday for his first campaign visit since surviving the near-assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania July 13.
Trump's visit was at Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids along with newly selected vice presidential nominee JD Vance in tow.
Trump comes to west Michigan after officially accepting the Republican nomination and giving the keynote speech Thursday, with security concerns for Saturday obviously heightened.
Vance, who brings rust belt roots,made his debut on stage for the first time since being named and introduced at the Milwaukee Republican National Convention a few days ago.
Trump last visited Michigan just a month ago in Detroit, when he spoke at a round table hosted by Detroit 180 church. He followed that with an appearance at Turning Point's People's Convention at Huntington Place downtown.
Since then, a breakneck presidential race news cycle has gone into overdrive with President Joe Biden currently facing numerous calls from within the Democratic Party to bow out.
On June 27, Trump defeated Biden in the first of two scheduled televised debates, feeding widespread concern over the sitting president's mental acuity and health.
On July 1, the US Supreme Court ruled that Trump is immune from criminal prosecution for all official acts that fall within his "conclusive and preclusive" authority. The government alleged that, as part of his alleged conspiracy to overturn the election, Trump wanted to use the Department of Justice to send letters inquiring about potential voter fraud in certain states.
On July 15, Trump was wounded in the ear in the sniper attack, coming less than an inch from what would have been a fatal headshot. Much of the facts around the shooting are still being uncovered, although the shooter - Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old Bethel Park man - was killed by police.
Three rally attendees were injured in the shooting with one - Corey Comperatore - dying after shielding his wife and two daughters from the gunfire.
Questions about the incident continue to swirl with investigations into the shooter, if he had help, and what led to the security breakdown, continue.
On July 17, Trump received word that the classified documents case which he was accused of mishandling, was thrown out by a Florida judge. The case unraveled due to the appointment of a special prosecutor by the Biden administration ruled as unconstitutional by the court, which led to the Mar-a-Lago raid in 2022, and later indictment in June 2023.
That same day, the Republican National Convention kicked off with Trump naming Vance soon after.
On July 18, Trump gave his acceptance speech - the longest in RNC history - calling for unity, attacking issues like border security, inflation and funding foreign wars while recounting personal details of the assassination attempt.
Vance, although born in rural Kentucky, grew up partly in Ohio and after serving in the Marines attended Ohio State prior to Yale Law School. This led to a brief, but good-spirited back and forth with Michigan delegates who broke into "Go Blue" chants on Wednesday when he accepted his nomination at the RNC.
There may be continued back-and-forths tomorrow for Vance, 39, making his campaign debut with another audience boasting Michiganders. He quipped to the Michigan contingent on Wednesday night, "We've had enough political violence."
Vance also wrote the best-selling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" about his life published in 2016, which was made into a Netflix adaption, directed by Ron Howard starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close in 2020.
The crowd cheers as former US President and 2024 presidential nominee Donald Trump attends a campaign rally with US Senator and vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on July 20, 2024. (Photo by Jim WATSON